Lawmakers from both chambers of Congress have already committed to boycott Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu‘s speech before it has been scheduled.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) told CNN’s Kaitlin Collins that he will not attend Netanyahu’s address because it is a “terrible idea.” His boycott comes despite Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) agreeing to invite the prime minister.
“Look, you have a prime minister who has created the worst humanitarian disaster in modern history,” Sanders said on The Source with Kaitlan Collins. “Five percent of the [Palestinian] population is now dead or wounded, 60% of whom are women and children. Some 200,000 housing units have been completely destroyed. Every university in Gaza has been bombed. There is now imminent starvation taking place. So why you would invite somebody who has done such horrific things to the Palestinian people is something that I think is a very bad idea.”
Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) has also already announced her boycott of the address, which will be the second time she does so. Back in 2015, Netanyahu came to Washington, D.C. to speak to Congress two weeks before his election. At the time, then-President Barack Obama was still in the middle of negotiating the Iran nuclear deal, and Schakowsky boycotted to show her disagreement with the Israeli prime minister for his opposition to the deal.
“I boycotted his last visit,” Schakowsky reportedly said. “I certainly will not attend this one. It’s not going to help move us forward — it’s a detriment. Should he come for any reason, in any venue, I am not going to be there.”
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Both Sanders and Schakowsky are Jewish. More are likely to join the boycott, as many lawmakers have been critical of Netanyahu’s war strategy in Gaza. Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) refused to say his name in a recent television interview and has called for his resignation.
Netanyahu began serving as prime minister in 2009, was briefly ousted in 2021, and won his reelection in 2022.